Carmine Touch
by BioKraze
Summary: The Rijichou never thought she would return. But she has...and with unholy vengeance to pay upon the fallen Prince... Oneshot.


Shoujo Kakumei Utena_, its concepts and personalities are copyrighted by Be-Papas. I, _BioKraze_, own nothing save the original plot of this fanfiction._

He should have known the tea would be drugged. Within minutes after his first sip, the world became hazy. When at long last he came to, he found three things to be wrong. He was tied to a bed, completely nude. He was alone, in the same room as the projector, the observatory. And, of all things, Akio Ohtori was in excruciating pain. He managed to stare down at his body and gasped in shock. There, written in blood and pain, were names he thought he had forgotten.

Each symbol was carved into his body, marking the memory of a failed prince or princess. Each of the names had significance in the duelling game called Revolution. They were the Champions, the ones who alone saw the doors to the Castle of Illusion, the doorway to Eternity and Revolution. It was those blasted doors that Akio had hoped to regain what was rightfully his. Only one person, cold and calculating when given freedom, would have done such a thing.

And there she stood, also nude. In her left hand a cup of tea rested. In her right hand she bore the Sword of Dios. The very edge of the ornate spirit blade was tainted with red. His own sister! Carving those initials into his body with what was once his! He refused to cry out in pain. He was stronger than this. He would overcome whatever little scheme his sister was plotting, and would end up the better for it.

Anthy Himemiya walked calmly over to Akio's bound and pained body, dropping the teacup on the floor. The fine china mug shattered, spilling rose coloured liquid across the floor of the observatory. She had a serene smile on her face, but her eyes betrayed her barely suppressed rage. Akio could see, now. She was angry. She was hateful. He had done the deed again, destroyed another person's life. And this time, the person was somebody special to the former Rose Bride.

He knew that Utena Tenjou was now the most important person in Anthy's life, for the pink-haired girl's name had been cut into his forehead, backwards. He would see his failure whenever he looked into a mirror. People would stare at him for the rest of his life. He knew that the Sword was only one apart from the million others that fed on hate and rage. And now, he knew with chilling emotion, his sister had come to finalise her blasphemy. There would be no reprieve for Akio Ohtori this time.

Anthy Himemiya had come to kill her brother, or at the very least, make him pay for what he had done over the ages. Her eyes stated it, even if her body did not. She walked over to the bed where her brother had been tied, smiling all the while. Looking down at him, facing him. Oh, what a humiliation Akio felt at that damned smile. She sat down on the bed, placed a hand on his right shoulder. She shook her head and, if anything, her smile grew a bit wider and more intense.

"Dear brother...do you think I would not let you do such horrible things? Did you ever think you would never be punished for your horrific deeds? Your unforgivable sins?" Her hand moved down to Akio's chest, where the names of two long-forgotten Duellists were etched into his body with pain overwhelming. Anthy's eyes grew hard. "Did you think I would forget? That you would forget who holds the power you truly seek?

"You will not find it in your castle of illusions. A cypher to keep you occupied. Dios rests there, yes, but he is without power. A shadow he is, and a shadow you are as well. Two wrongs do not a right make. Two shadows do not a prince make." She closed her eyes, and the hand began to glow a soft red. "You've sought the power you wanted for so long, when it rested beneath your nose, dear brother." The hand's glow intensified. Akio felt the pain of the hundreds of names grow hot, as if they were burning him. His throat locked, but he would not scream. He would not scream.

"You cannot take power from somebody who does not possess it. In the end, the Champion is but the winner of a contest. He or she does not get to keep the prize. And the prize has been resting for all these years...inside _me_." The glow became an intense carmine. "I hold the Power of Dios inside me, and I will not let it go to one who cannot recognise how to use a tool properly.

"For that is all the Power you seek is, dear brother. A tool. Just like the Duellists you so carefully sought. Just like the Seitokai. Just like every single student in this tomb of yours." The carmine glow began to spread over Akio like a wave of pain and doom, but still he would not scream. He would not scream. Anthy's smile grew into a harsh frown, and her eyes became emerald slits.

The cruel blows inflicted upon his dusky body began to glow in tune with the light of the witch's hand. The pain was nearly overwhelming. Akio mused silently. Was this what Anthy felt when she took the wrath of the swords of Humanity's hatred? Was this what the Duellists felt when they were defeated in combat? Was this the pain, the sorrow, that Dios himself felt when he had driven himself to save the world? He would not scream, though the pain burn through every pore of his body...

Anthy dropped the Sword of Dios upon the floor, which clattered uselessly to the side of the bed. She took her right index finger and, ever so carefully, traced a thin line down her brother's head, from the tilak to the tip of the nose. She smiled. "Now you know, dear brother. Now you know the pain. Now you know the pleasure..." The pain threatened to consume Akio, but he would not scream. He would not... for the love of power, for the love that once he felt, he would not...!

Those that were awake on that curious night would swear that the piercing shriek of exquisite agony rang out from the Rijichou's tower for miles...


End file.
